Happy Birthday to our National Parks!

The National Park Service turns 98 year old this week. Almost a century ago, our leaders had the foresight to protect these incredible places and set them aside as national treasures. Since then, our national parks have been enjoyed by millions of people from the US and abroad.

A few weeks ago,I asked Greenpeace supporters to join me in protecting the national parks we all love from climate change, and was astounded by the response. Since then, nearly 36,000 people have signed a petition asking Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to protect our national parks and public lands, not give them away to coal companies.

And her response?…..

Well, we are still waiting. In fact, we haven’t heard ANYTHING from Secretary Jewell on this issue. How can one person claim to be protecting national parks by addressing climate change, while leasing millions of tons of coal and pollution that causes climate change in the first place? Answer: You can’t.

Well, Secretary Jewell, the best birthday gift you could give the National Park Service today is to choose #ParksNotCoal and end coal mining on public lands.